


Mutant Avenger

by Blue_Hood



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alliances, F/M, Hydra (Marvel), Mutant Tony Stark, SHIELD, TaserTooth, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-01-04 10:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18341996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin.





	1. Surrender

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozhawk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozhawk/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Collected TaserTooth Ficlets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8019208) by [ozhawk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozhawk/pseuds/ozhawk). 



> Gifted to ozhawk for introducing me to the TaserTooth ship.

Victor Creed drove like the devil was on his tail, glancing at the small sleeping figure in the backseat. He swerved to a stop outside Stark Tower. Stepping out, he leaned against the car and glared at a security camera until the Avengers swarmed him, ready for battle. He responded with slow careful movements. He set his wallet and keys gently on the roof of the car before resting his hands on the edges of the roof and spreading his legs as he waited to be arrested.

When he first turned towards the car with keys in one hand and a wallet in the other, Hawkeye had asked “What's he doing?”

When he stopped moving after assuming the position to be searched, Iron Man landed “I think he's surrendering.”

Victor Creed said “I am.”

“Enhanced senses, right. Cap?”

Captain America swung his shield onto his back, “O-kay.”

Hawkeye said “Search him and see what he wants.”

“Thank you, Hawkeye.”

Victor said “In the backseat. I need your help.”

Iron Man walked around the car, peering in “Two questions, who is that and why come to us?”

“Inside, I'll answer all your questions inside.” After a moment, he sighed and asked “Can I carry her in? You're strangers.”

Captain America answered “Sure. Just,”

“No sudden moves.” Victor slowly straightened and opened the door, gently lifting the sleeping figure into his arms. He cringed when Captain America closed the car door behind him then relaxed when the form in his arms stayed asleep. Black Widow scooped up his personal effects as Hawkeye led them.

Waiting for them in the infirmary, Bruce Banner said “Lay her on a bed.”

“No.”

Hawkeye asked “What do you mean no?”

“I mean it’d be a bad idea for her to wake up in a strange place alone.”

The Avengers shared meaningful looks while Victor Creed stood tall between them until Darcy Lewis wandered in “Sorry, didn't know you guess had company.”

Victor spun around, the bundle in his arms doing nothing to disrupt his balance. Facing Darcy, he sniffed the air before speaking “Who are you?”

She backed away “Uh, I don’t think I should give my name out to guys like you. By that I mean, I meant wanted criminals not mutants.”

So not anti-mutant? Victor carefully approached, keeping his movements slow so as to be non-threatening, “I just want to introduce you to someone.” Darcy stopped backing up and let Victor get close, had she run away Thor would’ve covered her escape. Once the girl in his arms was in plain view of Darcy, he growled lightly to wake her up and set her on her feet. He asked again “What's your name?”

Darcy lowered herself to the little girl's level “I'm Darcy Lewis, and you are?”

She stared Darcy down before looking at Victor, who chuckled and asked Darcy “Would you watch her until her father can get here?”

“Uh sure. Who is her father?”

“I need to call Logan to tell him about her.” Victor encouraged the little girl to go to Darcy, “Go on, she's not gonna hurt you. She's gonna take you out of the lab.” Looking at Darcy, he added “As for a name, that's her father's call. The people I took her from considered her a weapon.”

Darcy nodded and looked at the little girl, “Come on, let's look at names, see if there's one you like.” She wrapped her arms defensively around herself as she followed Darcy out.

Turning back to the Avengers with a sigh, Victor asked “Can I make that phone call before you lock me up?”

Out of the armor, Tony Stark passed him a phone “Call then you're gonna answer our questions.”

Victor nodded and called the school “Hello, I need to talk to Logan.”

_“Who is this?”_

“Victor Creed. Logan's a father, that's all I'm telling you.”

 _“Please hold.”_ A few moments later, Logan picked up _“What have you done, Victor?”_

“I rescued your daughter from people trying to raise her to be a weapon, she's waiting for you at Stark Tower. Spend the drive over thinking of names, a woman named Darcy Lewis will be watching her. You're welcome.”

_“Thanks, I thought,”_

“I know what you thought. I don't think the people who had her will be too keen on letting her go. That's why I brought her to the Avengers. You need to be ready for a fight when you take her, not that I think the Avengers will give you one but the drive home might not be as peaceful as the drive here.”

_“Thanks for the warning.”_

“You're welcome, brother.”

_“I'll head out now.”_

“You do that.” Victor hung up and returned the phone “I called his workplace. He's heading over now.”

The Avengers began asking him questions until Widow cut them off to take Victor to the holding cell. For having such a reputation, Victor was nothing but cooperative, if vague in some of his answers. He walked right into the Hulk cage, laying down as Natasha locked it. Later, Darcy came down with Nat to see how the controls worked for mealtimes. Agent Romanoff left her alone after locking the cell. “Why did you trust me? You don’t know me yet you trusted me over the Avengers.”

“Instinct. What name did the little girl get?”

“Laura.”

“Howlett.”

“Who?”

“Logan was born James Howlett, he doesn't know that. Still makes his daughter Laura Howlett.”

“Yeah, right. How old are you and Logan?”

“Logan’s a few years younger than me.” Victor took a bite of his dinner to avoid answering. He honestly didn’t know so he needed to figure out how to answer “Put it this way, we both fought in every American war until ‘Nam when we got found out and Weapon X got us. Logan was a little less willing a participant than I am, prob’ly why I didn’t lose my memories.”

Darcy took a moment to do the math, “You’re over 250 years old.”

“Sounds right, don’t remember our birthdays. Easier that way.”

“Easier how?”

“Other than Thor, who is the oldest person you know?”

“Erik Selvig.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s in his 60s.”

“Does he look older than me?”

“Yeah.”

“But he’s not. Logan and I are the only ones who age the way we do. It’s easier to lose track than be constantly reminded that you’ll always outlive everyone around you. I’m dangerous, more dangerous than Logan because I deal with that by being an animal while he dares to be more, to be human.”

“I never considered,”

“Everyone wants to live forever, no one thinks about what that means.”

“I guess so.”

“Any other questions?”

“What did you mean by your instincts led you to trust me? I mean I know you sniffed me, or something like that.”

“I knew instinctively that you’re a good person. What do you think the Avengers would’ve done with Laura? Think about your answer.”

Darcy took a few minutes to think it over “They’d use her to figure out who Logan is and why you were willing to risk so much for her. Why were you?”

“I’d hope Logan would do the same for me rather than turn the kid against me with all that X-Men versus Brotherhood bullshit.”

“Bullshit?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time letting my instincts rule, more time than you've been alive. When you get down to it, the X-Men and Brotherhood want the same thing, they want to end mutant oppression. What do you suppose happens if someone attacks Bruce Banner and he changes?”

“Depending on the attack, either Bruce gets in trouble for losing control or his attacker gets in trouble for attacking him.”

“Who decides who gets in trouble?”

“There’d be an investigation,”

“That’s it. If someone attacks a mutant, they can’t use their mutation to defend themselves because then their attacker is justified. If they don’t defend themselves, no one else will and they could die. On the other hand, has Magneto ever gotten a trial? I don’t think so but he’s been locked up many times. That is the justice system on mutants. Magneto calls it human persecution and rallies the Brotherhood around mutant justice, the X-Men say we have to work within the system to fix it. I could give you a few names to look up, mutants that can prove my point.”

“You said the whole Brotherhood versus X-Men thing is bullshit.”

“Neither side will ever win. The X-Men have defeated Magneto multiple times and he never gets a trial, the government never makes even that small gesture to show we are human too. We do not chose to be mutants, it is a result of genetics and yet we face registration from the government and widespread discrimination while Worthington Labs promises a cure. I must agree with Magneto that there is nothing to cure. Though I disagree with both the Brotherhood and X-Men on how to end anti-mutant persecution, it can’t be done. Might as well ask the sky to turn green.”

“You give up.”

“I am well over a 100 years old by your own estimates, I have adjusted to much social and technological advancements but I do not believe mutants will ever be true equals to humans.”

“You saw people of color gain equality.”

“No I didn’t, they’re not enslaved but the prejudice is still there. Instead of thinking every black man is inferior, people think every black man is a gangster. Immigrants still get worse treatment, now it’s justified as they could be terrorists. I have lived through much change, I remember most of it.”

“You don’t believe you’ll ever come out on top.”

“That’s not what I said, I said equality will never come. The Brotherhood wants to tear down humanity for their persecution of mutantkind. Manifesting a mutation is the fastest way to get disowned these days. The X-Men believe that if we work within the system, if we lie down and show we are not a threat then we can show them we are their equal. The only thing that can come of that is mutantkind getting trampled, we will wind up having to register for being born different because that way humans can understand. Humans only fear what they don’t understand, right? The Brotherhood is too much action, too much war. The X-Men is too much submission, too much peace. As far as the human world is concerned, we should all be rounded up and tagged, executed if we’re too much of a threat. We’re animals at best, good as weapons, monsters at worst. Wonder which belief is the most common.”

Darcy went over to the controls, repeated what Natasha did and took the tray, “Can you give me those names to look into?”

“Give ‘em to Stark, search SHIELD’s database first because if they were involved then they would have the only accurate report on the matter.” Victor gave her the list, starting with a technopath. He finished with a warning “Don’t write it down, tell Tony outside the Tower.”

“Alright, goodnight.” Darcy left a little shaken.

Victor Creed had nothing better to do than think while he was locked up. When he woke up the next morning, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were waiting. “What?” asked the mutant as he sat up.

Tony turned to the controls while Steve gave a speech about how things are gonna work. After Captain America finished, Tony gave his own explanation “We don't trust SHIELD not to hire you, we don't trust the government not to weaponize you again, that means if you're gonna stay locked up then we have to be your jailers unless the X-Men ask us to hand you over. This cell was developed to contain threats like the Hulk. I think you can figure out how this works without Cap's speech. I'd like to run a few scans on you, just to measure you and check for any still healing injuries. Not gonna hurt you to see how fast you heal but if you're healing from an injury you got before you arrived then we'd be stupid not to monitor your progress. K?”

Victor nodded “Go ahead. I actually called the X-Men, Logan is Wolverine.”

“Right.” Tony glanced at him “Can you stand up for the scans?” Victor stood and Tony started the scans “That's it. Okay we're done.” He put his hand on Steve's arm “Let's go.” The super soldier had froze when Tony took over the explanation, first to glare at him then in shock when the other man got a response.

Soon after they left, Darcy came down with breakfast “Tony ordered clothes for you using the scans. Should be here tomorrow.” She turned and left.

At lunch, she traded out trays “So you're from colonial times, right?” Victor nodded. “You've lived through a lot of change. You said that racial equality doesn't exist today, do you think things have changed much at all?”

Victor nodded and swallowed his food before answering “Things have changed but I wouldn't say we've had any revolutionary social change. Can you name one well respected field not male dominated?”

Darcy really tried “Nursing?”

“Doctors are respected more. Most of the easy to name female dominated fields assist a more respected male field.”

Darcy tried to think of another one but drew a blank with Victor's reasoning, “Okay, I'll bite but I never said anything about gender equality. Everyone knows that doesn't exist, the Equal Pay Act is often ignored.”

“I know but now that you're thinking, can you think of any true equality today that hasn't historically existed for a hundred years?”

“Guess not but the discrimination is much more subtle, you have to admit that's a social change.”

“You think it happened overnight? Any and all change is slow. Great technological innovations are rarely truly accepted immediately upon release, their widespread implementation takes even more time. Steve Rogers and I are different, from his perspective computers took over the world overnight. I lived through the first computers, the first laptops, the first mobile phones and the first smartphones. I lived through the lightbulb and indoor plumbing. I served in the military in the age of bayonets and the infancy of radar. Living through it, I fully grasp the snail's pace it goes at. Social change is even slower.”

Victor Creed liked toying with people, manipulating them into questioning their beliefs. Darcy was especially fun but then, when he finished his food and she had enough of the world shattering revelations, she'd leave with his tray. Victor laid back on his bunk, the shelf opposite the door, and thought about the gender equality movement. He recalled his early lifetimes, thinking about his rights as a husband then and the rights of a husband now.

When Darcy brought dinner, she also brought a book. The tray went in and she left without a word. Victor ate before reading, leaving his tray where it'd been dropped off. Books gave them more to talk about that didn’t end with Darcy feeling stupid. She began eating at least one meal a day while sitting outside his cell so they could talk on her break. Technically since she got clearance to act as Victor’s jailer, she was officially an Avengers’ wrangler or civilian handler as SHIELD called her. This meant as long as Tony and Bruce made their meetings and the other two stayed alive, her schedule was very flexible.


	2. Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avengers meet X-Men

When the power went out in the Tower, Victor went on high alert. He’d joked about escaping in a power outage and gotten a full explanation of why that wouldn’t work bantered back at him. There were multiple backup generators and to protect the computers from sabotage, they prioritized power by system not level so his cell would be back online almost immediately. Additionally, a power outage would trigger a lockdown and make the cell impossible to open until it was manually rebooted. That particular piece of information came with the joke that he better hope they survive the siege. So, his cell not coming back online means this isn’t a normal blackout. Victor was many things, an opportunist was usually one of them but he owed a debt to Darcy, at least that’s how he explained away his determination to save her.

The Avengers, and SHIELD when they tried to take him away, never realized Victor wasn’t just a model prisoner, he was a willing one. In under a minute, he was out and just as quickly tracking her scent. He jumped on the men attacking her and her boss before growling “Move out.” For some inexplicable reason, he saved the whole team that day. Getting to Hawkeye just before the man’s injuries proved fatal, yet Widow was unharmed after almost the same amount of time in battle. Creed got everyone to the Avenjet and strapped into the pilot seat.

Tony Stark, the closet mutant he was, asked as he isolated the Avengers levels from the rest “Where are we going?”

Victor ignored him, half-focused on flying, half-wondering what the hell he was doing saving them. Darcy climbed into the co-pilot seat “We’ll need clearance to land so where are we going and how do I use this thing?”

“X-Men, call Logan.”

Tony said “I got the number, I’ll call.” He did, though Victor tuned everyone out except Darcy who kept a stream of nervous chatter going. Natasha briefly peeked in to find the cloaking already engaged.

As they neared the school, the basketball court opened up to the hangar. Victor landed the plane before manually lowering the ramp from the back. Climbing off first, he dropped to his knees with hands on his head. He wondered why he kept surrendering, he could’ve left Romanoff or Stark to fly them out of there and why did he save anyone other than Darcy, he wasn’t himself lately.

Darcy was out soon after him, asking the X-Men “Are any of you doctors because I think Clint’s dying?”

Jean Grey followed her aboard while Logan tugged Victor’s hands off his head “Stark explained, follow me.” Victor calmly followed his half-brother, vaguely wondering how much Stark knew about what he’d told Darcy. Logan led him into a cell, suspicious of why he wasn’t resisting at all.

After everyone who could be was discharged from the infirmary, Natasha volunteered to speak to Victor about what happened at the start of the meeting with the two teams. By the time they figured out her secret, she’d been gone over ten minutes. They found the door to Victor’s cell open and the man himself ignoring Widow’s attacks, Logan pulled Natasha off as Tony Stark asked “Why didn’t you fight back?”

“If I had, she’d raised the alarm and Logan would slit my throat.”

Glancing at said X-Man, Tony led Victor to the War Room “What was Romanoff trying to do?”

“Set me off.”

Darcy asked “Wouldn’t that get her killed?”

“Probably.”

Steve said “Then let’s be glad she failed,”

“Again.”

Tony asked “What do you mean again?”

“Check the tapes, this isn’t the first or second time SHIELD’s tried something.”

“SHIELD,” Tony paused “Damn.”

“You’re a technopath, aren’t you?”

Tony looked at him wide-eyed, “Uh, yeah.”

“Don’t look too deep into SHIELD’s files, the Index especially will piss you off.”

Tony disconnected from the Avengers’ systems, “Why the Index?”

“The Enhanced Index is SHIELD’s files on everyone with powers they can get intel on and they have a control, capture, kill policy on them.”

“No wonder they tried to get you, probably thought we did the hard part for them but we agreed we couldn’t let them take you out of our custody so,”

“Romanoff’s loyalty was never to the Avengers. Are you sure she’s a Black Widow?”

Steve said “I’m guessing you have experience.”

When Victor shrugged, Darcy spoke “He’s over 250 years old by our estimates.”

Scott asked “How'd you figure that?”

“I fought in every war up to Vietnam, same as Logan. If you want to look at his military records, his birth name is James Howlett Junior. We’re half-brothers but didn’t know that until it was too late.”

Darcy asked “What happened?”

“James Howlett Sr. was Logan’s stepfather but he didn’t know that until after he manifested and killed our father, Thomas Logan, for killing John. Last thing our old man said revealed the truth.”

Scott put it together “That’s where Logan comes from, his dog tags only say Logan on them.”

“Makes more sense for the tags to say his last name.”

Logan said “So that’s what happened and you know,”

“Because I was there. Right after it happened, I led you on the run into the woods. We were born in Canada, in some wars we fought in their army but mostly we were with American troops.”

Logan nodded thoughtfully “Widow’s hard to knock out.”

“You have an Adamantium skeleton, let her headbutt you and she’d be out.”

“She tried headbutting me, didn’t knock her out.”

“She knows who you are, probably figured it wouldn’t work.”

Tony said “She’s out now, right?”

“Yeah, gave her to Jean to keep that way.”

“You mean sedated,” inquired Jane Foster. Logan nodded.

Steve said “We ran a mission once, hostage rescue with the Howlies and special forces.”

Logan looked at him “Which name was I using?”

“James Howlett but we called you Lucky James, didn’t know how you always stayed unscathed.”

“Makes more sense now you know.”

“Yeah but I imagine they woulda kept you in a lab, trying to make more mutant super-soldiers.”

Victor said “It happened but that’s not why Logan and I always hid our powers.”

Jane asked “Why did you?”

“What did you know about mutants before you met me?”

“Point taken,” said Tony. “Though I had the other reason to hide my powers after Howard’s tests.”

The scientists’ heads whipped around, Jane asked “Are you saying your father ran tests on you when you manifested?”

Tony nodded “So I pretended to lose my powers, let him write it all off as a fluke or me just looking for attention. Honestly, I would’ve kept going if I was just faking it for attention, took me a long time to realize I wasn’t worth it to him. Since it was real, I had to get him to stop.”

Bruce stepped in “Clearly you don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’ll show you all the files he made on it sometime.”

“Yeah, that’d be better. Wait, would you have to read the files to show them?”

Tony leveled him with a look, “My AIs are as real as my powers, JARVIS can show you them with my permission.”

“Just checking, calm down.”

“It’s the technology around.” They looked at Victor  “Imagine having the power to read minds and suddenly being in the middle of a mob.”

“But he’s had-"

Bruce cut Steve off “He’s been suppressing his powers his whole life, he only recently began using them. I agree the Tower has more tech than anywhere else on Earth but it also has JARVIS to manage its systems and Tony created JARVIS.”

Tony said “JARVIS lets others see things how I used to.”

“Used to?” Steve began “Tony-”

Only for the man himself to cut him off “My powers have grown since I was eight, I think, or maybe it’s the change in the world. Damn, it’s just,”

Bruce soothed his friend “Tony, Victor has a point, you’re surrounded. You need to consciously unplug, don’t suppress your powers. If they’ve grown then you might not be able to. Just focus on one system at a time and back out,”

“I can’t, the reactor-”

“If you need to stay connected to it, do that but you’re stressing yourself out for no reason being plugged in to so many systems. Breathe and unplug, one at a time, consciously.” Slowly, he got Tony to do so. “How many systems are you in?”

“Three but it’s better than all of them.”

Bruce straightened “You might need to train so that doesn’t happen again.” Seeing the looks he was getting “I sometimes have to hold the Other Guy back, it’s not always just about anger.”

“Woah. You okay, Tony?” asked Darcy.

“Yeah, just, didn’t realize how much JARVIS helped. I didn’t have him when I, or I didn’t have my powers when I made him.”

Charles corrected “You did, you just couldn’t access them.”

Tony nodded, “Victor, is there anything you didn't tell us because of SHIELD?”

“HYDRA still exists, they were behind X-23 and your parents’ deaths.”

Steve asked “Didn't the Starks die in a car crash?”

Victor nodded “Yeah but the crash didn't kill ‘em and Howard was stone sober so he wasn't drunk driving.”

The Avengers looked at him, Tony voiced the epiphany “You were there.”

“HYDRA brainwashed Bucky Barnes to make the Winter Soldier, he was enhanced at one point and they keep him in cryo between missions. I was with him when they sent him to kill Howard.”

“Wow. You were HYDRA?”

“Mercenary work, in case Howard broke through the brainwashing.”

Tony asked “How did they die?”

“Howard’s skull was bashed in and Maria was strangled.”

Tony nodded numbly, “SHIELD covered it up. Peggy told me Howard killed them drunk driving, Obie- I guess that shouldn’t surprise me.”

Victor had no idea how to respond to that so he didn’t, Steve tactfully pulled him into the hall before asking “What do you know about Bucky?”

“He’s the Winter Soldier, he’ll be frozen in a HYDRA base unless he’s deployed.” With a sigh, Victor finished “He won’t recognize you if he saw you. They wipe his memories as part of the brainwashing. If you can get him, you’ll have to fight him. The X-Men have a telepath, he might be able to break the brainwashing better than a shrink in a mental institution.” Seeing Steve’s look of horror “What they did in mental institutions in the 40s is illegal these days. Even Stark will tell you that Barnes can’t be executed for killing his parents because he was brainwashed.”

The look shifted to disbelief “Really?”

“Yeah, the X-Men know more than I do but these days they care a bit about responsibility. If a kid commits a crime, it can be the parent’s fault depending on the kid’s age.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If X-23 killed someone then her age would get her off, not to mention what HYDRA was doing to her.” Victor stalked back in, leaning against the wall beside the door “You get that Logan?”

Shaking his head ruefully, Logan answered “Yeah. How about you explain why you rescued her?”

“I was in a HYDRA base, kid smelled enough like you to guess who she was.”

“Why were you in the base?”

Victor grinned “Same reason I was with Barnes when he killed the Starks. Freelance.”

“Mercenary work,” translated Erik Selvig. Victor nodded close-mouthed. “You have fangs,” observed the Swedish professor.

Thor exclaimed “But of course, he is saber toothed!”

In German, Victor asked “Can you understand me?”

Thor said “Da.”

With a smirk, Victor switched back to English “Thought so, universal translator.”

“Aye, the All-Speak.” confirmed Thor.

Jane's eyes widened “Of course!” She looked at him “How did you figure that?”

“He’s an alien, English is an Earth language.” Which when you think about it makes the whole thing a no-brainer. Victor stood up straight from the wall “Let’s review what we know. SHIELD is in bed with HYDRA, probably infiltrated from the start through the Allies’ deals with German scientists. If Romanoff is a Black Widow then she had no business making judgement calls of any kind. Black Widows are trained throughout childhood to manipulate, seduce and kill. None of those skills make them good at reading people beyond knowing what will get them close to their target. Her loyalties currently lie with SHIELD. This recent raid was likely orchestrated by HYDRA but we can’t assume all agents involved are HYDRA. Stark, try to sense any tracers that shouldn’t be there.”

Steve said “There shouldn’t be any tracers.”

Victor gave him an are-you-stupid look before remembering Steve was a man out of time and turning to Bruce “Is that right?”

“Yeah.”

“You should invest in tracer implants, in case one of your enemies gets ahold of you. It’s strategy.”

Tony asked “Where’d yours come from?”

“Weapon X program,” Victor said “Which means it could be linked to HYDRA’s systems since X-23 was made from DNA acquired by the program.”

“Is that good or bad?” asked Tony.

“Depends on two things: can you use it to find the Winter Soldier and has it been transmitting since we got here?”

“I’ll check.” He leaned back and closed his eyes, using the tracer as a starting point to link into HYDRA’s system “We’re safe, I think. It’s linked to HYDRA’s systems but it’s not transmitting. I think the tech is incompatible. Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Weapon X over a decade ago.”

“At least.”

“So there’s the problem, they’re probably treating the implant like it’s newer than it is.”

“When you’re done snooping, break the connection.”

Steve asked “Is it safe to do that?’

Victor gave him another are-you-stupid look before answering “I’ve survived Storm striking me with lightning and Logan has survived having the heaviest metal on Earth bonded to his bones for well over a decade. Even if it’s not safe, it’s not going to do much damage. Besides, I’m not asking Stark to break the implant, just the connection.”

Steve turned to the X-Men, who by now were used to being ignored by the other team, “Lightning?”

The dark skinned, white-haired woman nodded “I was assured he’d survive.”

Victor seemed almost concerned as he said “Never do that to Logan, I’m pretty sure Adamantium conducts.”

Logan confirmed “It does.”

Steve focused back on the debrief “What else do you know?”

“The main thing is that SHIELD is compromised and Romanoff is loyal to SHIELD so you’re on your own taking HYDRA down.”

Tony sat up and opened his eyes “Why is the Winter Soldier our first target?”

Victor explained “The X-Men have a telepath who has been helping Logan overcome this kind of brainwashing. I’m guessing you have a lot more information on HYDRA than I do.”

“Probably.” He addressed the X-Men “Can I have a tablet or something to download the information on? Preferably disconnected from any other systems to avoid accidentally showing our hand.”

Scott stood up “Sure.”

Victor asked “Did you even remember to introduce yourselves? Steve seemed a little confused about which X-Man is Storm.”

Tony asked his teammate “How did that come up?”

Victor answered for the Captain “I mentioned she struck me with lightning to explain why I wasn’t worried about you disconnecting the implant. To be clear, I’m telling you to break the connection to HYDRA not the device itself.”

Tony seemed distracted for a moment “I disabled all tracking devices in the building.”

“Great, now fix the jets’ black boxes.”

Tony’s glare looked more like a pout “That’s not really a priority at the moment, is it?”

“Before you forget to do it, or how to connect to them.”

“Oh.” Tony closed his eyes this time, “Done.” He opened his eyes “Every tracer is disabled, I fixed the tracking components in things.”

“That takes skill.”

“Just because I got overwhelmed that one time.”

“Exactly, you need to avoid building a reliance that will out you as a technopath when your company specializes in technology.”

“Right.” Tony hung his head “Forgot about that.”

“You got a location on the Winter Soldier?”

Tony gave a sly smile “Why are you helping us?”

With a sigh, Victor pointed a thumb at Darcy. The science wrangler smiled “Awesome,” turning to her boss “And I didn’t even have to hit him with a car.”

Victor looked at Thor “How many times have you been hit with a vehicle?”

“Twice by Lady Jane when we met.”

Jane defended “Both times were accidents. The first was when he arrived on Earth, I was tracking the anomaly caused by the Bifrost and the second time I was just backing out of a parking lot.”

“A hospital parking lot, which Thor had just broke out of after we admitted him not 24 hours earlier,” corrected Darcy.

Victor grinned, hiding his fangs “I know, you told me the story at least twice before today. I was asking Thor if he got hit by vehicles a lot or the thing with Jane was a first.”

“Oh, good question.”

Steve stood “That we can answer later. Now we need to start moving on HYDRA.”

Victor said “I was thinking we shouldn’t take on an entire army which is what we’d be doing if you lead the charge guns blazing. As I said, it’s likely HYDRA has control over honest SHIELD agents through anonymity.”

“When did you say that?” asked Tony.

“When I told you even if HYDRA was behind the raid that doesn’t mean all agents involved are HYDRA.”

“Right. So what is your plan?”

“What is the biggest threat to an organization like HYDRA?” When they paused to think, Victor sighed and said “I’ll give you a hint, the top two are in the room.”

Darcy said “The X-Men and Avengers.”

“Close, the Enhanced in general and Avengers in particular. The X-Men fight for mutants, everyone knows that. If you take them out of the picture, only the Brotherhood remains and then it’s only a matter of time before public support is all for mutants to be wiped out.”

Darcy said “You told me that the X-Men and Brotherhood thing was bullshit, you don’t believe in either side.”

“I believe I told you I don’t care about that stuff but do you remember what the reason Logan and I hid our powers in the army was?”

“To protect mutantkind.”

Victor nodded and Tony repeated “What’s the plan?”

“I can probably get HYDRA to let me take the Asset to wipe out the Avengers and knock him out before he reaches you if I can borrow a plane with the location of the Winter Soldier programmed in.”

Tony looked among his teammates “That actually is a good plan.”

Steve clarified “All you need is a plane?”

Victor considered him “If I brought Captain America, that would help me avoid getting shot down. Plus it’d make getting the Soldier to bring back a lot easier.”

With a grin, Steve said “You’re going to betray me to get in, aren't you?”

Victor nodded “Do you know how to safely take someone out of cryostasis? Or even what cryostasis is?”

After a moment, Steve shook his head. Tony clapped his hands “Then it’s settled. We just need a Plan B in case everything goes to Hell.”

“Now you’re thinking and Plan B is even simpler, we’ll text you so you can fry their tech and lock down the stasis chamber for transport.”

“I’m not sure how good of an idea that is.”

“Or send Thor.”

“I’ll send Thor.”

“Amounts to the same thing.”

Darcy pointed out “Except you can’t die, Steve can. I think the original had a higher chance of survival for both of you.”

Victor shrugged “It also carried a risk since we wouldn’t be texting from HYDRA tech, Tony could have just as much trouble connecting after cutting the connection as Thor would have finding us.”

“So same fatality rate,” suggested Darcy to which Victor gave a closed mouth grin. “In either of these instances, you’d slaughter HYDRA?”

Victor shrugged “Plan B is in case everything goes to Hell.”

“Good point.”

Tony had a hand on the back of the tablet, eyes closed as he transferred all the data he recovered to the isolated system. He opened his eyes briefly “The Avenjet has the coordinates programmed in. You’re good to go.” Victor left with Steve following close behind.

Acting was the closest thing to lying Steve could do well, he played his part to perfection. As they neared the school, Victor hit Barnes, who was in the copilot’s chair, to knock him out. The human weapon went down instantly, Steve coming forward to take his body into the back as Victor prepared to land. Steve carried his friend down the ramp as Victor performed checks. Darcy climbed aboard “How did you know we were in trouble?”

“Not as amazing as you'd think, my cell didn’t regain power so I knew there was a problem.”

“How long have you-”

“No idea, didn’t figure out the real reason I helped until a few minutes into the meeting.”

“You wanna,” Darcy paused to consider her words, “Give us a try?”

Victor glanced at her “Only if you want to.”

“I do.”

Victor leaned back “What’s the verdict among the X-Men? Am I to be trusted?”

Darcy looked surprised briefly before nodding seriously “They figure you’re more like Logan than Magneto, I think. You can’t be as old as you are and not have a few bad phases or something.”

“Works for me.”

“The Avengers want to offer you a place on the team?”

Victor was just about to busy himself again when he paused “Well they have their work cut out for them there, the public will tear them apart for adding me to the roster. I’m not only a killer, like Romanoff, but I’m also a mutant and the world at large is not very mutant-friendly.”

“We know. So you gonna accept?”

“You work with the Avengers, I want to be with you and I have the skills to be an Avenger.”

“Point. I wonder how much Thor’s an Avenger and how much he’s just using the excuse to be with Jane.”

“Thor’s from a warrior culture, right?” Darcy nodded. “If he tried to come to Earth to court a mortal, he would be denied access. If he came to Earth to fight alongside the mortals who defeated one of his own people, Loki, then the people he comes from would gladly send him to join the mighty mortals. If they can send him to Earth then they can probably watch him.”

“Right. You’re a lot smarter,”

“We’ve been over this, though sometimes I think you’re just like me in that way.”

“Weird, right.”

Victor shrugged “Everything has an origin. You proved myths do with Thor.”

“Yeah, I guess but what does that-?”

“Concepts like soulmates probably do too, don’t write it off for being rare. Mutants were rare for most of my life.”

Darcy asked “Are you done with the checks? And why didn’t you do them last time?”

“Yes, they’re done and I didn’t need to last time. Romanoff clearly understood the controls since she came up to engage the cloaking after it was already engaged, leaving her partner would’ve been a red flag if she wasn’t a Black Widow. Her kind are systematically dehumanized throughout childhood.”

“Huh, you sure do know a lot. Since you’re done with your checks, let me show you around.”

“After you.” Victor followed Darcy on a tour of the base and into a guest room “Has Stark called Potts or anyone to take care of the intruders? I imagine that will be one helluva conversation where he has to explain Widow’s betrayal and my shift in status from prisoner to Avenger.”

“Oh, I am so going to watch that.”

Victor caught her wrist “Y’know I have enhanced hearing, which makes eavesdropping easier.” He watched her eyes light up as possibilities filled her head.

When Darcy tugged, Victor let go of her wrist “I still have to remind Tony to call.”

“As long as he’s not sleeping.”

“He’s probably not.” She paused at the door “You can probably find him in under five minutes no matter where he is in the mansion, can’t you?”

Victor led her to the kitchen and knocked on the doorframe, Darcy walked up to the billionaire “Have you told Pepper about what happened? I think she should have some warning about the change in the roster.”

Victor rolled his eyes “I take it you weren’t sure I’d accept the offer.”

Tony nodded “From what you said about the Brotherhood, I figured teams weren’t your thing.”

“The Brotherhood isn’t a team, it’s a militia and I already saved you all once.”

“Point taken. Okay, so let’s review what I need to tell Pepper, just so I don’t miss anything.”

“Have you done anything about the intruders who nearly killed one of your teammates?”

Tony grinned evilly “I used my powers to trick them into the Hulk cage, after getting rid of their weapons with a magnet in my workshop.”

“You played a little cat and mouse, didn’t you?” Tony nodded proudly. “You need to tell Pepper a variation of the truth without mentioning HYDRA over the phone. That information needs to be given in person without the possibility of being overheard by either agency.”

“Right. Or I could just invite her here to meet the X-Men, saying we evacuated here after the Tower was compromised and explain everything here to avoid lies of omission.”

“Your call, literally. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make sure Steve has left Barnes alone.” Victor turned and walked down the hall.

“I’m going with him,” Darcy added before jogging to catch up with the taller mutant. “Don’t take this the wrong way but is there a way to kill you?”

“I heal by regenerating. If there’s nothing to regenerate then I can’t naturally heal from it.”

“If you can’t breathe then you can die because there’s nothing to regenerate that can save you.”

“Exactly.” Victor stepped into the office and stopped “Professor, do you need Rogers or is he a distraction?”

“Rogers is fine.”

“If you say that enough then he’ll never leave Barnes. I doubt the walking American Dream is gonna be too helpful when his buddy starts remembering his time as the Soldier.”

Steve gulped and made the excuse “If you don’t need me here then I’m going to talk to Tony about preventing another attack.”

Victor backed out and asked Darcy “When did he study up on strategy?”

“About a week or so after you arrived, he went to command school on the excuse he wanted to see what’s changed. He’s an actual captain now, it was kinda funny to find out his rank was honorary and he didn’t even know.”

Victor started walking towards the door “Did he get his GED while he was at it?”

“We’re working on getting him used to this century before we throw more education at him but he’s doing better since the command school thing.”

“Have you figured out how to calculate his age?”

“We’re still not sure.”

“You’re overthinking it. His time in the ice doesn’t count because he didn’t age while he was under. Barnes is gonna be hard to figure, don't know if he’s older or younger than Rogers now.”

“Okay. Y’know you can call everyone by their first names, right?”

Victor shrugged, they were now a few yards from the mansion. Turning back towards the school, he said “From here, I could jump and climb to the roof.”

“Really? Incredible.” Darcy had draped his arm over her, a romantic gesture he supposed but he wasn’t too good with positive emotions. He let her guide their walk, which made the situation all too clear “This is sorta new to you.”

“It’s that clear I’m out of practice.”

“With what?”

“Positive emotions.”

That stopped her in her tracks “Seriously?”

He shrugged “Been awhile since I’ve felt one other than the joy of the hunt.”

“Okay. That’s good to know.” Seeing his frown, Darcy was quick to add “Doesn’t change things. Well it does but it’s not, I’m not.”

“Just good to know going forward?” suggested Victor.

“Yeah, that. The Avengers really do have their work cut out for them making you a member.”

“Do you want to warn them?”

“I want to gather information before that, get everything out in one warning.”

“Get to know me?”

“That too.” Victor gave her a closed mouth smile and she asked “Why do you do that?” At his confused look, she elaborated “Smile with your mouth closed, I’ve seen your fangs and even if I hadn’t, they’re visible when you talk.”

Victor shrugged “How often are you watching someone’s mouth when they talk? I guess it’s a habit.”

“Oh, good. I thought it was something else.”

“What?”

“I thought you were hiding them because showing them in a smile was bad.”

“That too. I mentioned I’m not used to good positive emotions.”

“Right.” Darcy shrugged “I guess it is a bit unnerving but Thor made a good point, sharp teeth fit your codename.”

Victor shrugged, not sure how to respond to that. They were in an isolated part of the yard, about halfway up the driveway. Darcy leaned against him “I think Jane and Erik,” he stiffened at the name “Are gonna test that universal translator thing Thor has. Are you okay?”

“Magneto’s human name is Erik Lehnsherr.”

“Oh, so you- okay.” Darcy asked “Is there anything else I should know aside from the obvious and not being used to good emotions?”

Victor thought about it, shrugged and said “I can sound like a lion and sometimes I'll growl without thinking.”

“Okay, good to know.”

Victor confessed “I can't promise I'll never hurt you, both Logan and I got animal instincts in the mutant deal but I can promise I'll never push you away unless I believe you want me to go. As long as I'm in a position to stop myself, I mean.”

“You'll never make me stay with you but you might hurt me without meaning to,” clarified Darcy to which her boyfriend nodded. “Sounds like a good deal.”

When she hugged him, Victor picked her up to make up for the height difference. He suddenly looked forward with a focused expression. Carrying her, he explained “Tell the Avengers not to yell to me if I'm visible to them. I have enhanced senses so if they can see me then I can definitely hear their heartbeat.”

“Is someone yelling for you?”

Victor shook his head, “A car is coming, I think it's Pepper. I need to get inside so her bodyguard doesn't shoot me.”

“Then put me down and hurry.”

Victor complied, running on all fours to get to the house before the car got to the gate. Darcy jogged the other way to let the car in, “Happy? I got the gate. Remember to leave all weapons in the car, this is a school. I think the Avengers are enough firepower.”

Happy nodded “Looks like a long driveway.”

“It is, I guess it's Charles’ ancestral home.”

“Want a lift back up?”

“No, go slow so kids can get out of the way.” Darcy jogged back to the house, Happy heeding her words by following her.

Darcy didn't need to try to find Victor, he was talking to Steve by the entrance. Well, that was good strategy. He's not hiding and he'll have Captain America jumping to his defense if Happy gets any ideas. Darcy leaned against her boyfriend, making him smile as he recognized the gesture. Happy did instantly spot the giant blond and recognized him a second later, breathing his codename “Sabretooth.”

Tony said “Follow me, I'll explain. Steve, why don't you come and back me up as a certifiably sane person.” Steve moved them into an empty classroom.

Victor asked “What do you want to do while they talk?”

“Depends, is there anything that will keep you from accidentally listening in or is your hearing too sensitive?”

“I can tune things out for the sake of sanity. I was just wondering what you wanted to do.”

Darcy got a mischievous glint in her eye “I'm sure Thor would love to spar with you, you're almost unkillable so he can cut loose unlike with the rest of the team. No one wants a Code Green but Hulk also makes a good sparring partner.”

“You can kill Banner with three shots, two heavy tranqs and one regular, maybe put a neurotoxin in at least one tranq.”

“Do you know how to take out the whole team?”

Victor nodded “Including myself.”

“You told me that trick.”

“Good to have fail safes. Want me to track down Thor? Where can we spar that wouldn't disrupt the meeting? If Pepper and her bodyguard see me fighting Thor then Tony's screwed.”

“Guess we should do something else.” Seeing an empty TV room as they passed, Darcy said “Let's just watch TV. Can't twist that without insulting me or the Avengers and X-Men.” Victor sat down on the couch and draped his arm over Darcy's shoulder as she picked up the remote.

Pepper came in as they were on their second movie. Darcy was curled up in Victor's lap and his normally serious expression was soft. He turned to the doorway “Hello.”

Darcy paused the on-demand movie, “Should I leave?”

Victor looked down at her, a concerned frown on his face “You know what I'll say.”

Darcy nodded and directed the question to Pepper “Do you want me to go? Victor would just tell me it's my choice.”

The other woman shook her head “No, I'll go. I just wanted to see for myself, I didn't mean to interrupt.” Victor shrugged and Darcy watched her suspiciously as she walked away.

Looking at Victor, she asked “What am I missing?”

“Pepper didn't believe I was safe to be around then she watched us for about a minute. I turned to her before she could knock to announce her presence.”

“Would that bother you?”

“I knew she was there the minute she stopped walking, you'd be startled more than me.”

“Oh, good point.” Her boyfriend handed her the remote. “How tall are you?”

Victor answered promptly “6 foot 6.” She stared at him. “Remember how old I am?” She shook her head to clear it and hit play.

In the kitchen, Happy asked “What'd he say?”

“Nothing to me. Apparently he's made it clear that Darcy has all the power in their relationship.”

Tony said “I'm pretty sure that's why he accepted our offer. It's important for someone with so much physical strength to be that way. I mean, Thor can be a bit dense but he must have something similar going on with Jane.”

Steve wondered aloud “Between him and Thor, who do you think is stronger?”

Happy answered “Thor.”

Tony nodded “Yeah but if we're talking, who'd win in a fight, my money's on Victor. Skill beats strength everytime.”

Pepper asked “Haven't you fought him before?”

“Not yet, he surrendered so we'd help the little girl he brought to the Tower and we haven't had a chance to train with the debrief turning into a rescue mission. We decided while he was on the mission that we wanted to ask him to join, Steve barely took the time to agree while he was distracted by his best friend back from the dead.”

Steve cut in “The Professor is going to keep him here for memory treatment but I'd like to prepare for him to rejoin the world when he's ready. I know that's not a simple thing to do so I figured I'd bring it up now.”

Pepper nodded “I'll get started on it as quietly as I can. The Tower's cleared of intruders and waiting when you're ready.”

Happy stood up “I'd like to talk to the X-Men about a few things?”

“I'll introduce you,” Tony led him through the school, finding Scott in his classroom with the door open “Knock, knock. This is Happy Hogan, SI's head of security and a friend. Happy, this is Scott Summers, leader of the X-Men, in the field at least.” They shook hands “Happy wanted to talk to an X-Man about a few things so I figured I'd check your classrooms to see who I could find.”

While Happy spoke with Scott, Pepper met with the Professor. As they were about to leave, Victor raced down the hall and stopped them with a hand on their shoulders “Tony, check the car.”

Tony closed his eyes for a minute “There was a bomb, I took care of it.”

After staring for a moment, Pepper smiled “Forgot you could do that.”

“Yeah, sometimes I do too.”

As their savior stalked away, Happy said “Thanks, Victor.”

The wildman stopped and nodded to him before walking back to the TV room. Tony told his friends “Guess you're staying for a bit.”

Darcy asked Victor “What was that about?”

“Car bomb.”

“Oh, okay.” Darcy asked “What do you want to do now?”

Victor shrugged “Wanna find Thor?”

“Sure.” Darcy watched Victor track the alien prince, “Hey guys.”

Erik stopped testing Thor's All-Speak, “Hello, Darcy, Victor.”

Jane's eyes lit up with an idea “Victor, do you know the extent of your powers?”

The mutant nodded “I don't know how to explain it in words but I know my limits. If you can see me, keep your voice down because I can definitely hear your heartbeat.”

They all nodded seriously before Jane asked “Do you have enhanced strength?”

Victor nodded “Closer to Steve than Thor but probably more than the mutate.”

“What's a mutate?” asked Erik.

“I'm a mutant and my powers are natural so I figure Bruce and Steve are mutates because they were mutated by something.”

Jane nodded “And Thor's an alien, Clint's unenhanced-”

“Barton's a baseline human, that’s the technical term for non-mutant.” Victor said, “You could talk to Dr. McCoy if you want the science of mutants.”

Jane smiled “I’d like that.”

Darcy said “You can use people’s first names.”

“Not without their permission, Barton’s one of the Avengers that told me not to.”

“Why?”

“Because I was an enemy. When he wakes up, we’ll see what he says. Follow me.” He led them to the blue man, “Doctor McCoy, Doctors Foster and Selvig have some science questions about mutants.”

Jane said “You can use our first names.”

Victor nodded curtly as he and Darcy left “What now?”

Darcy chuckled “Now we babysit Thor to make sure no one gets hurt.” Victor led her to the other tall blond “So Thor, what do you want to do?”

“Erik was helping me understand Earth lingo.”

When Darcy’s eyes widened, Victor figured that was progress for Thor “What contractions have you covered?”

“I do not understand.”

“None then. Humans say don’t rather than do not.”

Darcy said “Yeah, don’t means do not, won’t means will not, shouldn’t means should not and on and on.”

Thor’s face lit up as he practiced, Victor fading into the background until Darcy occasionally drew him in to the conversation. That is how Bruce found them, Victor acknowledged him “Need something, Doctor Banner?”

Darcy sighed “You have to tell him he's allowed to call you Bruce, big guy.”

“You can call me Bruce and we were wondering if we could test your powers before dinner.”

“Lead the way.”

Outside, Tony explained “We want to test your strength comparatively.”

“So Thor and I hit each other to see who hits harder?”

“Exactly. We'll wait until we can set up a speedometer and a closed lab to really test the rest of your abilities.”

The two tallest Avengers went at it, Victor keeping the fighting contained by limiting himself to two feet instead of all fours for most of the fight. Everyone heard him roar shortly before he pinned Thor but when Steve said “Enough!” Victor jumped to his feet and began walking towards his new teammates, swiftly dodging Thor’s attempt to tackle the mutant. Steve reiterated “Stand down, Thor.”

Victor crouched slightly to catch Darcy in his arms and Tony had to ask “If you guys ever broke up, what would you do Victor? I mean would you stay an Avenger or go back to freelance.”

“Stay an Avenger. Better off that way, not like I need the money after so much mercenary work.”

“Right, Avengers do get paid to be on call at all times and be part of the team. We can’t exactly not pay you to replace Romanoff, and for the time being, Barton.”

Victor looked at Darcy as if to say he-does-it, Darcy glared at Tony and the two looks said it all. Tony quickly explained “It’s okay to refer to us by last names but we prefer to be addressed by our first names.”

Victor chuckled “I know how names work, Darcy was trying to get me to refer to Barton as Clint.”

“Oh, yeah either one’s fine actually. Just don’t be like Thor and call me Anthony, or Clint Eye of Hawk.”

Victor grinned “Darcy and I have been helping modernize his vocabulary, finishing what Erik and Jane started while playing with the All-Speak.” Victor set Darcy down as they entered the mansion.

“So he might not do that, good to know. I really do want to quantify your abilities. Will I need a speedometer?”

“If you give me a chance to gain speed on all fours, I’d like to see what my top speed is.”

Tony looked at him for a moment “You run on all fours?”

Victor nodded “Enhanced agility. I thought you would’ve seen videos of me from my file.”

“We’re gonna have to review those because I have got to see how fast your estimates are.”

“Or you could just wait and I’ll do it for your Avengers file, make it accurate.”

“Yeah but where’s the fun in that unless we can compare it to the old estimate.”

“Your life,” Victor shrugged and sat down next to Steve, Darcy filling the seat on his other side.

Tony asked “Are you immune to poisons?”

“Immune, no. More like a high tolerance, same with alcohol. I can’t be killed by poison and I’ve yet to get more than buzzed.”

“Got it.” Tony looked at the table and stood up “Let’s get food.”

Victor stood up and led him to do that, Darcy and Steve following after the latter hit his head on the table. They’d been assured there was no way they could take too much after warning the Professor about Thor’s appetite when they were invited to stay. Victor took Pepper’s phone as they sat down, she looked at Tony, who shrugged. When he did the same with Jane’s notes after the other woman ignored her food, Pepper instantly understood. She began eating in hopes he’d give her phone back and wound up enjoying her meal, even joining in on the Avengers’ conversation. As Pepper stood to leave, Victor stopped her to return her phone and she smiled at him “Thank you.”

Tony groaned “You’re gonna enforce no phones at the table, aren’t you?” All he got was a shrug in response.

Darcy asked Bruce “You guys wanna watch a movie?”

Bruce nodded “Sure, we could use a break.”

Tony confirmed for Happy that the bomb was gone, even going so far as to assure he double checked for explosives. As soon as he turned around, Bruce was there “C’mon, Tony, we’re watching a movie as a team before bed and you are going to bed with everyone else.”

“I’m sure Victor will enforce that. Did you know he took Pepper’s phone to make her eat?”

“I saw him do it, Tony.” Bruce led him into a TV room, Darcy tossing the curly haired scientist the remote.

Tony petulantly asked “You get to pick? Why you?”

“For giving Darcy time away from Avengers’ wrangling and for getting you all to take a break.”

Tony huffed “That’s fair.” Bruce also knew how to pick a movie the whole team would sit through.

When Darcy quietly told Thor to whisper around Victor because of his sensitive hearing, Victor wrapped his arms around Darcy and pulled her into his lap “You’re catching on.” He purred just to see her reaction. Carefully, she asked “That’s not unintentional like growls?” A chuckle was her answer and she relaxed into his hold, knowing he wouldn’t stop her from getting up if she wanted to.

Tony whispered to Bruce, “That didn’t take long.”

“Darcy’s blunt and Victor’s direct, now hush.” He chose the movie and said “Victor,” before tossing it to him “Keep it loud enough for us to hear but if it’s too loud, you can turn it down.” Victor gave a thumbs up and Tony turned down the lights with his mind, smiling at the freedom to do such. He’d had an in-depth discussion with the Professor about rules regarding the Avengers’ presence at the school.


	3. Moving In

When the lights didn’t go back up after the movie, they all saw Tony sleeping against Bruce’s side. Victor picked up the inventor and Darcy led him to the other man’s room. Everyone retiring as soon as they were upstairs. That night, Victor held his girlfriend as they slept. She knew how to safely wake him if needed, he’d told her a lot during the hours they spent alone watching movies.

In the morning, loving gestures came easier without prompting from Darcy. At breakfast, Jane and Bruce agreed to stay behind to call when Clint's condition improved enough to be reasonably hopeful that he'd wake up. Darcy couldn’t get over her luck, he might not be the most outgoing with affection but Victor certainly cared and he was a lot smarter than he looked. Jane could have the ancient blond alien warrior prince, Darcy got the better boyfriend.

With that settled, Tony and Steve joined the X-Men to work out the details of their alliance. As the premier superhero team, the Avengers could do a lot for any cause they backed. With Tony being a mutant, they were already pro-mutant, they just didn’t know how to go public with that fact and the change in roster. Professor Xavier and Doctor Grey could guide them through these new, dangerous waters. That was all they asked in exchange for promoting the mutant cause. If Captain America says mutants aren’t bad, American lawmakers are going to be hard pressed to push through any laws that could be considered anti-mutant. Tony silently swore he was going to dig through every government database he could sense and clear out anything he found that would go against the mutant cause. Even if he was caught, it’d look like Tony Stark being Tony Stark, he wouldn’t be outed as much more than a mutant lover.

After breakfast, Victor flew them home. As soon as they touched down, Tony closed his eyes and shut down every planted bug in the Tower before letting the others out. Darcy tugged on Victor’s arm and Tony said “I got the post-flight, you go,” earning Darcy her victory in getting her boyfriend to let her give the grand tour. As they passed, he said “You’re on Romanoff’s floor.”

When the tour finished, with his new home, Victor asked “Where are the boxes? I’m going to put Romanoff’s stuff away just to be on the safe side with SHIELD being what it is.”

Apparently they were connected to the security feed because Director Fury called to ask “What the fuck is Sabretooth doing roaming free with Ms. Lewis?”

Steve answered “Sabretooth saved the whole team as well as Dr. Foster’s team when the Tower was attacked during a power outage. We offered him a place on the team as a reward. Being an Avenger is the safest place we can have him since a power outage should’ve put his cell in lockdown yet he escaped as though he could’ve done so at anytime. As to Ms. Lewis, uh,”

Thor said simply “They are courting.” He didn’t want to make Fury even more furious with his newfound understanding of Midgardian English.

Tony finished “Apparently he saved us because he has feelings for her, apparently she feels the same or else we wouldn’t let him go near her unsupervised.”

Fury asked “Where is Romanoff?”

Steve answered “She is with the X-Men, Barton was severely injured in the attack. Sabretooth knows Wolverine, he was able to get us into the X-Men’s base where they treated Barton and saved his life. Doctor Banner stayed behind along with Doctor Foster to keep an eye on his recovery, they said they’d called if his condition changed.”

Fury nodded to himself “Keep me posted on both the Sabretooth and Barton’s situations.”

“Will do.”

As soon as the call ended, Victor spoke “What should I do with Romanoff’s stuff? In case there’s any tools of the trade you missed.” His voice surprised all three Avengers and they turned to him.

“How did you-?” Collecting himself, Tony answered “Darcy can show you an empty lab and I’ll have JARVIS triple reinforce security on that lab to keep all signals blocked and any other surprises contained.”

Steve asked “How much did you hear?”

“How much did I hear or how much was I standing right here for?”

“Uh, more the first one.”

“Everything, JARVIS notified us of the call and Darcy asked to listen in, I cautioned not to loop us in completely. As for the other thing, I knew you had the call well in hand but I realized the dangers Romanoff’s stuff may hide. I can debrief you on everything I know about Black Widows and similar programs but I’d rather not,” he felt fine leaving it at that and they didn’t push for once. He did however walk up to Stark and whisper “My healing power only works if cellular regeneration can heal me, poison burns through my system like alcohol does humans. I’m telling you this so someone can stop me if I turn animal again.” He backed up “Thanks for the help.”

Victor left and met Darcy on their floor, she’d started packing but he waved her off “Faster if I do it with my enhanced strength, I can move more at once and my senses will make sure everything goes.”

Darcy said “I want to help.”

“Tony said you’d know an empty lab JARVIS could put extra security on. You can help pack by opening boxes and moving the full ones out of the way. I’m not used to having help.” Darcy scowled until the last line, Victor elaborated “I’m a survivalist like Logan but he’s had more time to get used to people wanting to help.” Darcy nodded and helped how he asked her to. She led him to an empty lab and he moved all the boxes himself, his height made obvious by the amount he could carry.

When Victor went to the laundry room for clean uniforms, Darcy had to speak up “Now you’re an Avenger, you don’t have to wear the uniforms all the time. In fact, I’m pretty sure Tony will want to make you a special one for Avengers’ business.” He let her keep talking, knowing useful information is often hidden in babble. “I mean, you can get stuff to fill your floor and pick your clothes.”

He paused “The whole floor is mine?”

“Yeah, Tony’s a bit eccentric. I think if Steve was more messy or Clint was more clean, they’d share a floor as roommates.”

“Probably,” Victor finished putting his clothes away, there weren’t many “Where’s your quarters?”

That sentence clued Darcy in, “Uh, just follow me.” Victor helped Darcy pack and since it was her stuff, she told him what to do on both ends of the move. “You were just moving us in?” Victor nodded “We need to work on communication, especially since miscommunication is far too common here already.”

“Communication errors or messed up communication?”

“Good point, could be part of the problem.”

Victor picked her up and kissed her before whispering in her ear “Stark needs to prioritize his projects in case Romanoff did more than mess up communication and keep her loyalties vague, she was a spy as far as you knew.”

“Right and he needs to update JARVIS’ protocols to officially replace Romanoff with you.”

“The AI listens to you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we’re good.”

It took Darcy a moment to realize something, “You’re cool with the idea of an AI?”

“I flew the Avenjet, I had Tony use my tracking implant to hunt the Winter Soldier and I even told JARVIS not to link us in completely. I am not tech impaired.”

“Right.”

“Want me to put you down or just sit down?”

“Just sit down.” Victor sat on their bed and Darcy adjusted her position.

“If you want to sleep, I’ll hold you like that.”

“Yes, please.” He laid down with Darcy in his arms and watched her drift off. JARVIS kept the others out simply by telling them that she’s asleep. Victor was there, holding her and smiling when she woke up. He let her go when she started to get up, sitting up himself. They both went about their business, Victor picking her up for a kiss afterwards. “I love you,” said Darcy for the first time. Victor returned the greeting and set her down so they could join the others.

The first words out of Tony's mouth were “Thor's mopey.”

Victor went into the kitchen and began cooking while Darcy discussed the problem with Tony. Their conversation cut off when they caught the delicious smells coming from the kitchen, “Let's set the table for him.” Tony nodded and they set out to do just that only to find it done for them. Steve and Thor joined them at the table as Victor brought food out.

Pepper joined them along with Rhodes, the latter asked “Who is he?”

“Victor Creed,” came the answer from the mutant himself.

“Sabretooth.”

Victor had to hand it to him, he barely stumbled, barely froze in his actions. If not for his keen senses, he might've missed the reaction. Victor nodded “That I am.”

To build a bridge, Tony added “He's also the most prolific soldier in American history.”

“I know, Tony.” At the strange looks that got, Rhodes explained “I figured a fighter like yourself would have been a soldier at one point, most mercenaries were. Once I found mention of your real name in public records, I looked it up in military records. It's really common and comparing the files explains why, I never reported my findings but maybe it'd help public relations to know about your services.”

Victor nodded “Maybe.”

Tony said “So you’re on board with this? I think SHIELD’s planning to spy on us because of Victor’s membership.”

“Aren’t you independent of them?”

Pepper answered “We’re working on that.”

Something occurred to Tony “Rhodey, did I ever tell you I’m a technopath?”

“What?”

Tony put his phone on the table and leaned back, closing his eyes to focus. The phone flipped through a few pages, pausing on Rhodey’s military file then on Pepper’s social media profile before playing Thunderstruck and finally turning off. Sitting up, Tony said “I’m a mutant, a technopath though it used to be mere sensory not that.”

“You’re a technomancer now.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Yes, Tony, I knew. You told me when we were at MIT during one of your rants about Howard.”

“Victor saw them die.”

Rhodey faced the mutant “What?”

“They were killed by the Winter Soldier, HYDRA had SHIELD cover it up as an accident. I was there in case Howard broke the brainwashing on the Asset, Sergeant Barnes.”

“Okay, so James Barnes is the Winter Soldier, HYDRA still exists and the Winter Soldier killed the Starks.”

“Barnes was recently rescued, he’s currently with the X-Men to be treated for the brainwashing by their telepath.”

“Okay, uh, anything else?”

“HYDRA infiltrated SHIELD which is why the Avengers are so anxious to cut ties and why Romanoff’s not here.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“You’re a baseline, you know who I am and what I can do if you betray us.”

“So there’s no risk,” said Rhodes.

“What do I call you?”

“My friends call me Rhodey, mostly my friends through Tony.”

“Alright, Rhodey.”

Tony said “He can be direct and intense.”

Rhodey turned to him “That’s a serious understatement.”

“I’m thinking he’ll be a great replacement for Romanoff, plus he’s unkillable.”

Victor confirmed “Lethal force might knock me out while I heal.”

“Tony, that just makes him more scary.”

“I know, he’s scarier than Romanoff and SHIELD can’t use him against us.”

Victor rolled his eyes, “How many systems are you in, Tony?”

“I don’t know.”

“Unplug from them, Tony.”

Tony groaned dramatically, closed his eyes and did as asked. “There, I’m out.”

Rhodey asked “What was that?”

Darcy explained “When Tony connects to systems too much, he zones out a bit, which is why he was agreeing without really listening.”

“Hey!” Tony objected “I don't use my powers in public so it's not a problem.” Tony's juvenile tone broke the tension.


	4. Avenging

The call to assemble came at night the first week after Sabretooth was announced as an Avenger, Victor woke up before the alert touched his floor. He nudged Darcy off him and whispered a promise to return in her ear before running out of the room. Arriving at the debriefing, Tony whined when he saw Victor “How is it you were sleeping and you’re still more awake than us?”

“I’m a survivalist.”

Steve cut off the bickering “What’s the situation?”

Fury explained “The city's under attack, creatures are pouring out of a portal in a park.”

Steve said “We'll take care of it.”

Victor said “If Cap can hitch a ride with Iron Man, Thor can fly me out. No point wasting time with the jet when half the team can carry the other half.”

Fury nodded “Stark?”

Tony said “I can do it. Actually, my suit has a feature for just this sort of thing, panels that Steve can step on and handholds.” He wandered towards the door.

Victor nodded “Let's move out.”

As they left the briefing room, Tony teased “Did our mission ruin the mood?”

Victor glared at him “I was only sleeping.”

Tony said in a serious tone “I guess with your lifespan, there's really no rush.”

“Say that to Thor when Jane gets back, we'll meet you at the fight.” Victor led Thor to the balcony and held on while the God of Thunder flew them to the battlefield, dropping into the fray when they neared the portal. Hitting his comm, he asked “Can I kill these guys?”

Tony’s jaw dropped from in the suit “How else do you stop them?”

“Incapacitate without lethal force.” Victor wondering how a genius couldn’t see that then remembering that they thought Thor knew English.

Captain America said “If you can do that with these guys, it’d be appreciated.”

“What happens to them when the fight’s over if they’re alive?”

Iron Man said “Death would be a mercy next to SHIELD picking them apart when they’re alive. Go ahead and kill them.”

Sabretooth tore through the enemy, getting to the portal then looking around at his team. Cap’s voice came over the comm as he bit back a sigh “Shut down the portal, that’s the priority.” Sabretooth cleared a circle around the portal before beginning to look for a cause, the portal vanished once he moved the power source “Huh, musta been some kind of circuit, which means I could’ve destabilized the thing sooner.” Sabretooth took out the combatants that remained standing after their connection to their home vanished before meeting with the other Avengers. “What now?”

“Uh, debrief.”

Victor rolled his eyes at Iron Man “Clean-up?”

"SHIELD’s got, oh. I’ll call the X-Men but I doubt they’ll get here in time to take anything from the Men In Black.”

Sabretooth sniffed the air then ran on all fours to a man near the treeline, “What do you want?”

“Why are you an Avenger?”

Victor leaned into his ear “HYDRA cloned Logan, they’re still around and the Avengers are our best bet at surviving them.” Stepping back he gave the answer Pepper Potts drilled into his head.

The man nodded “I’ll let him know.”

“Let him know the Avengers have two mutants.”

The stranger looked at the trio watching them, nodded seriously and ran off. Victor returned to the team “Old friend.”

“Okay, your friend got a name?”

“Not sure which one’s current.”

“Ah,” said Tony in understanding.

Sabretooth grabbed onto Thor and the other two took the cue, “Can you handle the debrief? What is there to talk about? Your suit recorded the whole thing, right?”

Tony nodded “But Fury will want to know about your friend.”

“He can fuck off.”

“I’ll pass on the message.”

“You do that,” Victor rode back to his floor and took a quick shower to get the blood off before climbing back into bed “You okay?”

“I need to learn to sleep on my own again.”

“I run warm, that’s the problem.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Try to sleep now.”

In the morning, Director Fury was waiting for them on the common floor kitchen. Victor growled at him, alerting the other man to his presence “Glad your awake. Maybe now you can explain who that was in the park.”

“Old friend.”

“Funny that your old friend doesn’t register on facial recognition, our system can’t even isolate his face to run recognition.” Interesting. “So I’ll ask again, who is he?”

Victor had a predatory smile on his face “I am well over 200 years old by your estimates, why do you assume everyone I know is a threat?”

“Because you’re a loner, you like being alone. Which is why I still can’t get this Avenger thing through my head.”

“Director Fury, don’t you know why the long lived live alone? I avoid having children at all costs for the same reason. We get to know people and then have to pull away, leave them in the past because we can’t risk the exposure when they realize we don’t age like they do. My son, Graydon, grew to hate me because he thought I hated him for being human. I wouldn’t wish my lifespan on my worst enemy but at the same time, I do wish he was a mutant. That might’ve been the only way he’d understand why his life was what it was as a child of an old mutant.”

“Your friend is no one.”

“My friend survives being my friend by being impossible to find, makes him harder to hurt to get to me.”

“Graydon Creed died because,”

“He was found out. His Friends of Humanity followers found out his father is a dirty mutant.”

“Thanks for the information.”

Victor had long since learned how to deal with spy types, they want information and thus can be distracted by unrelated intel.


End file.
